The Next Thing To Upend EVERYTHING: Blockchain Technology

When it comes to blockchain technology, the core technology underpinning bitcoin, the digital currency that operates on a decentralized swarm of computers, there are many other applications as well. A real revolution may be unfolding all thanks to the technology which underpins bitcoin.

Blockchain technology is a powerful decentralizing force, and as such it will transform our society at every level. By placing control and ownership back into the hands of individuals, blockchain will change the way our society works. –Futurism

In addition to securely protecting information, advocates say blockchain’s radical charm is that it cuts out the middleman and reduces costs. There is no need for a “trusted” third party to broker deals and all transactions can be audited. What’s really revolutionary about blockchain is that it decentralizesownership and control of assets, and by doing this it remodels fundamental structures in our society.

Our global economy is based on the power and trust we place (because we have no alternative) in intermediaries like banks, governments, utilities, and large Internet companies like Facebook and Google. This means that some of the most powerful and wealthy positions in our society are held by corporations that are intermediaries. They themselves add no value to transactions beyond whatever trust they extract from participants, yet they make their money from the transactions and slow them down in the process.

“You can see why governments see this technology as a double-edged sword,” says James Corbett of the Corbett Report. “Wielded for their purposes, it presents a perfect platform for their Big Brother-esque ambition to oversee, manage, track, store and database all interactions between everyone, everywhere, instantaneously and at next-to-no cost. But wielded for free humanity’s purposes, it makes almost every conceivable function of the government as obsolete and nonsensical as horseshoe makers and chimney sweeps are to modern society.”

But of course, the world-wide implications don’t stop there. Making government as the middleman obsolete would only be the start. New companies and technologists are finding vast new uses for it eliminating other middlemen. Some musicians and artists see services based on blockchain technology as a godsend. New companies like PeerTracks, Mycelia,Ujo Music and Stem all use blockchain technology, working to simplify licensing and liberate musicians from intermediaries (like talent agents, record labels, and streaming services) all eager to take a cut of revenue.

And the impact this could have is already making on the world isn’t small. It has been called “mind-blowingly big because it affects every aspect of the global economy,” said Michael J. Casey, a senior adviser to MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative and co-author of an upcoming book on the implication of blockchain ideas, The Truth Machine: Blockchain and the Future of Everything.“We have the potential – I’m still going to use a qualifier like that – to get to trillions and trillions of dollars in savings and disruption and refocused activity,” Casey said.

Y’all go right on ahead and buy into this shit if you want. Go ahead… drink that whole pallet-load of cool-aid.

Let me know how it works out for ya.

bustattmovec

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
― Henry Ford

Cynical Old Bastard

“Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money”

— Tom T. Hall

The Tuna Fairy

Thanks for the link, I hadn’t heard that one in years! 😀

Although, these days, being an older woman, I have different opinions 🙂

Cynical Old Bastard

No problem. Happy to share it with y’all.

Youtube is great, huh?

Yeah. I know what you mean on that opinion thing. Funny how those change when fifty is well out of sight in the rear-view mirror. Now I’m happy with a shade tree, a cool breeze across my brow, and a cold beer in my hand. Ridin’ days are over.

It’s morphed a little farther than that for me. It is now, “No more horses, no more women, no more whiskey, and no money.”

elbustaroyjetspeekerson

I stand corrected. Me too, actually.

Michael Keith

That Wired article is from 2014. Darkwallet has long since been abandoned, and the backers (from what I understand) never even received their swag for backing.

The Darkwallet website is still active and will still allow you to download the software, but I would really advise against it. I don’t think it will work at all anymore and wouldn’t trust it if it did.

elbustaroyjetspeekerson

Yeahbutt…. Things like this 3 year old shitcanned idea are ALL TOTALLY dependent on a continuing-to-function internet AND POWER GRID. Short-sighted? Infinitely so…